Hi All,
I would like to provide an update on the transmission case cracking on my Kioti NX4510. Let me start by saying that if you plan to buy a Kioti NX series tractor and use a backhoe with it ... DO NOT BUY A KIOTI! ... until Kioti improves how the backhoe is mounted. Please allow me to share the details:
The transmission case cracked for the first time in early April of 2019 and I told the dealer of it about April 11. The initial leak caused me to limit use of the tractor because of the difficulty of filling the hydraulic system with the backhoe attached. The leak became steadily worse to where by June the tractor was essentially unusable due to the amount of hydraulic fluid being lost and the difficulty of replacing fluid. The tractor was finally repaired in late July. Thus the tractor had limited availability for FOUR (4) MONTHS through the high need time of spring and summer.
The transmission case cracked, a SECOND time, on Monday October 7, 2019. (I ordered the tractor on October 22 of 2018.) The tractor was not repaired and ready for return to me until December 6, 2019. Thus, I lost another TWO (2) MONTHS of use. In total, during my first year of ownership, I had impaired or lost use of the tractor for 6 months half the time I owned it.
Kioti has NOT changed the backhoe mounting system in a manner that I believe will provide reliable backhoe operation vis a vie the transmission case. The only change Kioti made to the mounting system was to add two more bolts through the mounting bracket into the transmission case. I researched how John Deere, Massey Ferguson, Myanmar, and Kubota attach their backhoes to their tractors. They all use what appear to be five or more inch wide, half inch or more thick, forged steel plates to carry the load to the axle housing just inside each rear wheel. The mounting to the axle housing is NOT by bolts into the housing but rather by bolting forged steel around the axle housing. Consequently, the 2" or greater diameter tool steel axles and the housing are taking the stress from backhoe operations not a few (4 initially and now 6 in my case) bolts into a 1/2" casting that is only about 10" wide between bolts. By mounting the backhoe to the axles, the other brands are creating a base greater than 48" wide to oppose the torque generated by backhoe operations performed at an angle to the long axis of the tractor.
Yes, per the factory, the backhoe brackets are to be mounted, as mine are, to the cast transmission casing. I talked to several people in the farm implement manufacturing business concerning mounting the backhoe into the transmission case. They all agreed that the transmission case cannot hold up for long if the backhoe is operated at an angle to the long axis of the tractor. The reason can be found in Kioti's advertising. Kioti says the Kioti KB2485 backhoe mounted on the Kioti NX4510 has a reach of 136.1 inches and a breakout force of 3,748 pounds. Multiplying this out yields 42,508.6 foot pounds of torque on the mounting system when the backhoe is operated perpendicular to the long axis of the tractor. Restricting operations, something the Kioti manual does NOT do, to 45 degrees or less relative to the long axis of the tractor, would reduce the torque on the mounting brackets and, hence, the transmission case to 21,254.3 foot pounds. The people I talked with thought even that number is likely to be too much for the transmission case to withstand over time.
Kioti service may be suspect beyond the long delays I experienced in getting my tractor repaired:
On October 22, 2019 I called Kioti痴 Customer Service Administrator because a high cost repair code (HCRC) had yet to be issued (per the local dealer) and under Kioti痴 policy a new transmission case could not be ordered and shipped from Korea until an HCRC had been issued. The Customer Service Administrator said that he could neither review nor change the policy. When I told him that anyone considering purchasing a Kioti tractor should know of the delays I encountered and the rigidity of the factory in requiring an HCRC, he hung up on me. Later, he lied and denied hanging up on me.
I forwarded to the Customer Service Administrator some of the correspondence between me and the local dealer. He blocked my URL, denied doing so, then, subsequently, restored the URL.
Before I got my tractor back, I had a long discussion with the dealer. The dealer said that the transfer case issues were caused by my improper operation of the backhoe and that the factory may no longer honor my transmission case claims due to backhoe operations. The power train has a 6 year warranty with no exclusions that I can find. I can find no limit to the operation of the backhoe in the backhoe manual that would make anything I have done, primarily digging out stumps and trenches for conduit and drainage, an 妬mproper operation.
Looking forward, I won稚 start using the 途epaired tractor with the backhoe until the frost is out of the ground, probably early April. I have a whole summer痴 worth of work, work that should have been done last summer, ahead of me in addition to what I had planned on doing this summer.
Did the dealer offer an explanation as to how your operation of the backhoe was improper?
